Ralf Rangnick-Manager

RALF Rangnick claimed Saints’ Old Trafford equaliser was “too easy” before quoting an expected goals statistic to imply that his side should have taken more from the match. A year on from Ole Gunnar Solskjaer overseeing a 9-0 win against Ralph Hasenhuttl’s team, his interim successor saw the Red Devils squander Jadon Sancho’s first-half goal on Saturday. Che Adams fired home an impressive equaliser shortly after half-time and Saints had chances to snatch a rare win at Manchester United, whose profligacy in front of goal led to a third successive match ending 1-1. Rangnick, who was the director of football when Hasenhuttl replaced him as manager at Red Bull Leipzig, called into question whether his charges are “nasty” enough against teams like Saints. Ralf Rangnick and Saints boss Ralph Hasenhuttl (Pic: PA) “They can be tough but the question is for what period of time and in which moments,” the German said, speaking after the match. “Again, if I see the game, the goal we conceded today, quite like at Burnley, it’s just too easy. It’s too easy. “It was not even difficult for Burnley and today for Southampton to score these goals, and against Middlesbrough it was similar. “If you are being counter-attacked after being 1-0 up, this is also a question of tactical discipline and being aggressive in the decisive moments and just don’t allow the players to go past you.” Rangnick also underlined United’s issues turning chances into goals as Cristiano Ronaldo’s barren spell stretched to a sixth match. It was Jadon Sancho who struck for Manchester United (Pic: PA) He told how United had a much higher ‘expected goals’ total than the visiting side. The metric takes into account the number and average conversion rates of chances across the match to determine how many goals one should have scored, with an open goal weighting higher than an outside the box shot, regardless of the actual outcome of said chance. With football being a low-scoring sport, meaning in any given 90 minutes a result can go any way really regardless of performance, clubs use it as a more accurate way to measure their side’s effectiveness and creativity. Some, however, are still sceptical of its usefulness. Man Utd (2.53) 1-1 (0.71) Southampton — The xG Philosophy (@xGPhilosophy) February 12, 2022 “Our team with a lot of technical players, with a lot offensively behaving and thinking players, for them it is difficult to stay compact for a longer period of time, for the whole game,” Rangnick added. “This is one of our problems. The other is that we don’t take enough advantage of the chances that we create. “Today we had an expected goals ratio of 2.57 to 0.7 of Southampton.”